The purposes of the Trusts and Estates Section are:

1. to promote the sound development of trusts and estates law, procedure and practice;
   
   
2. to provide a forum for Members of the Association interested in the field of trusts and estates law to meet and confer;
   
   
3. to assist the professional growth and development of practitioners in the field of trusts and estates law;
   
   
4. to initiate and participate in Association sponsored continuing legal education programs in the field of trusts and estates law;
   
   
5. to disseminate to the Association and the general public helpful information in the field of trusts and estates law; and
   
   
6. to undertake any other actions deemed appropriate by the Section and the Association in the field of trusts and estates law.
   
   

Pursuant to written notice duly issued in accordance with Section 4.5 of the Trusts and Estates Section's Bylaws (the "Bylaws"), the Trusts and Estates Section (the "Section") convened its annual meeting at 4:30pm on January 26, 2006, at the Sable Oaks Marriott in South Portland, Maine. The following members were present: Ray Bradford, Jr., Eileen Epstein, Eliot Field, Andrea Fravert, Justin LeBlanc, David Levesque, Dennis O'Donovan, Sarah Ruef-Lindquist, Colby Wallace, Katy Wallace and Barbara Wheaton.

In accordance with Section 6.2 of the Bylaws, Kathryn Dana Wallace succeeded to the office of Chair.

In accordance with Section 6.1 of the Bylaws, Justin D. LeBlanc was elected to the office of Chair-Elect.

In accordance with Section 6.1 of the Bylaws, J. Colby Wallace was elected to the office of Secretary.

The position of Treasurer was not filled.

A general discussion took place about the importance of getting information out to all Section members regarding legislative updates that affect the area of trusts and estates law. It was noted that the Elder Law Section has a very active list-serve that focuses in large part on getting information out to its members about important legislative changes as well as provide a forum for its members to discuss areas of question or concern.

Justin LeBlanc has offered to work with Neil Cavanaugh to get an updated list of the members of the Section as well as a list of those members who have subscribed to the list-serve in order to find out from the members what would make the Section's list-serve a more useful resource for its members. It was agreed that effort should be made to get information about legislative updates to the Section's members through the use of the list-serve.

Dennis O'Donovan and Colby Wallace have offered to coordinate efforts to establish a liaison with Maine Revenue Service for discussion between the Section and Maine Revenue Services about proposed tax changes and tax interpretations.

A call for CLE topics was made. Various topics were discussed with a consensus that an effort should be made to coordinate a seminar with the Real Property Section, potentially as part of the MSBA Summer Meeting. It was also agreed that as soon as any tax changes are made on the federal level, a seminar should be held to discuss those changes as well as ramifications of Maine's de-coupled estate tax system.

It was suggested that the Section reintroduce the practice of semi-regular informal social gatherings where members can meet during after business hours to discuss trusts and estates related topics of interest.

Andrea Fravert made a request for volunteers to hold a few seminars across the state on the need for basic estate planning (wills, powers of attorney and living wills). These seminars would be geared towards low-income individuals but would be open to the general public. Ray Bradford suggested that Andrea contact the ABA, which offers grants in conjunction with the NIH for these types of programs. Andrea has agreed to follow up on this suggestion and will report back to the Section at a later date with more information.

With no other business to come before the Meeting, the meeting adjourned at 5:15pm.

Respectfully submitted,Kathryn Dana Wallace, Chair